Thursday, September 27, 2012

I Really Want the UFL to Succeed

Who doesn't love professional football in Las Vegas? I know, we have to endure professional football in the middle of Virginia, Sacramento and Omaha to see Las Vegas Football, but who cares? Who doesn't love cringing when you think about the referees who are covering these games when all of the good low level officials are in the NFL right now (or at least they were yesterday)? Who doesn't love the fact that the biggest name in this league is Jim Fassel, the former Giants head coach and the Las Vegas Locos head coach? Welcome to the United Football League. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Now you may think that I gave up on this developmental football league after the Hartford Colonials and Jerry Glanville were taken from us die hard fans in New England with the disbanding of the Hartford Colonials for the 2011-2012 season. But as I'm watching the Mountain Lions' "to do" checklist for the 2012-13 season during their season opener vs the Locos, I can't help but get sucked back in. This little league that could may actually make it. And I see that one of their top players to watch is Josh Johnson - I mean we are steps away from a Doug Flutie sighting for Christ's sake! Bring on more UFL has beens and never-will-bes!

Back to the game. Adam Archeleta and Brent Stover are calling the action for the CBS Sports Network (I didn't event know that this television station existed!!) and Lauren Gardner is the sideline reporter, just like NFL Football. That's where the on-field similarities with the NFL ends, but I cant help but wonder though, if this is really a chance at big time football. They are excited, and so am I. So really who cares if the brand of football is mediocre and that the Crimson Tide could easily handle any one of these four teams? I say, what can we do to help. Well, if you're asking me, my suggestions can be boiled down to about three suggestions.

1. Bring on the XFL. While the fake story lines don't cut the mustard, some of the personalities are memorable and should be implemented here. I mean who doesn't remember "He Hate Me?" If we include more personality in this game, more people would turn in and watch Omaha vs Sacramento.

2. Amp up the sex and violence appeal. Similar to some of the wrestling associations that came up to fight it out with the WWE, increasing the sex and violence appeal would go a long way into keeping eyes glued to the screen.

3. Open up the scoring. I love flea flickers, long passes, reverses and gadget plays. If the scoring were to increase then the eyes would start looking at the screen. Call pass interference tightly and crack down on defensive schemes. Open up the holding penalties and interference calls to exploit a greater passer attack. When this gets opened up, the the gadget plays will work.

And if the referees come back? The UFL will be hiring new officials left and right. And I doubt any of them have a UFL team down on Facebook as their favorite team. But maybe they will.